THE National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ) was greatly affected by the lockdown imposed following the outbreak of the coronavirus, which restricted movement of people, an official has said.
BY VANESSA GONYE
Donations to the country’s sole blood bank was severely disrupted by the closure of schools during the period as students were its biggest contributors, chief executive Lucy Marowa said. Marowa was speaking at NBSZ’s festive season campaign launch that was held virtually yesterday.
“We were affected by COVID-19 lockdown, our staff, donors were on lockdown, we haven’t recovered, we still feel the effects today and our strategic plan was affected. We had to realign our activities to the new normal,” she said.
She stocks in the blood bank fell to ‘alarming levels’ at one time.
“Movement of our donors was restricted despite our service being an essential one. As we launch this year’s festive season campaign, let me tell you that we have put in place measures and we have resolved not to over-rely on students for blood donations where 75% of our donors were students,” said Marowa.
“The six-month break had a huge toll on us and we are hoping for a 50-50 ratio for schools and ordinary donors so as to shift reliance on schools and we hope 2021 will be better.” Each year, NBSZ has a festive season blood campaign because of higher demand during an often accident filled period.
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